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Thursday, June 19, 2014

Bicycle (Mis)Adventures

Almost a year ago, I bought my first adult bicycle. Now I'm to the point that I want to ride it more. I even took a couple of informal classes from some volunteers at work (for National Bike Month or something) to try to work up the courage to do an occasional bike commute. Still working on that one, but all in all I'm just trying to drive less and ride more.

With the best of intentions, I decided I would take my bicycle to Indiana with me for my MBA residency. I knew I could ride my bike with Mom at least once. Dan installed my trunk rack and off I went. I'd never driven my bike more than 2-3 miles before, so getting onto the Interstate was a whole other story. My rack was not a great fit with my women's bike and its adapter, so it kept coming loose. SCARY STUFF, people. On my third forced exit off the highway, I called Dan almost in tears trying to figure out how to get either to Indiana or back home in defeat.

YOU GUYS. I removed the front wheel of the bike. I KNOW THIS IS SUPER EASY BUT I DIDN'T KNOW HOW. I had to Google a YouTube video. You have to unhook the brake thingy and stuff, y'all. But I did it, then attempted to get the bike into the Corolla. No dice. I removed everything I'd packed for the week from the car, put down the back seat, then managed to cram everything back in. WHEW. I felt so accomplished! Then I drove through the worst traffic and construction ever and finally got to Bloomington. (Note: It was Friday the 13th.)

The next day, I rewarded myself with a new trunk rack that works much better (from our local shop, Bikesmiths) and a ride on the B-line with Mom. I knew I needed a new rack to get me back to TN. I'm hoping to have a chance to ride again before I go home. It felt really good despite the terrifying car trip where I thought I'd lose my first real bike. So I suppose that's progress.

4 comments:

Driving on the interstate with a bike strapped to your car is SUPER scary! I did that once when we drove to Florida - never again! ha! Glad you got the situation sorted out and were able to get your bike up there safely! You look super babely on your bikey :) We should rideeee sometime when you get back! Mini bloggers bikey brunch ride? :)

I love you. The new bike rack has a three-point lock system, so it not only holds onto the adapter bar on my bike but also has a lock around the seat post. ALSO, it holds three bikes (since my parents/Dan have bikes, we may go ride together) so I'm thinking YES to blogger ride sometime.

Indiana is SO flat compared to TN, I wish I'd ridden more while I lived here.

You and your mom are adorable! That sounds so scary! I can't imagine losing stuff on the highway during traffic. Traffic freaks me out anyway. Glad you got a new bike rack. I really miss my bike. I need to take it and get it fixed. My community is a nationally ranked bike community. They pride themselves on being bike friendly. That being said, we also have people that like to bike on highways at very busy times of the day. Just because we're a bike friendly community doesn't mean you should ride your bike on a busy highway. Ah. I have said my peace.

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